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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30110757">For the Sake of Another</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuanta/pseuds/Nuanta'>Nuanta</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FE3H Dragon Age AU [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Dragon Age Fusion, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood Mage Hubert, Blood and Injury, Demons, Fade Dreams, Fantasy Violence, Former Templar Ferdinand, M/M, Mutual Pining, Near Death Experiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:34:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,071</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30110757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuanta/pseuds/Nuanta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Hubert has always utilized blood magic with the intention to hurt. And oh, these mages will hurt. He will do to them what he first did to his father, all those years ago, what he’s done since to Templars and bandits alike. What he’s done to those that infuse his veins with boundless hatred.</p>
  <p>Now, there is another level to it. It is revenge, but it is not selfish. Through even his most untenable aspirations, he never could have fathomed what it would be like to fight for someone else.</p>
</blockquote>The Hubert POV of Chapter 15 (Act 2, Chapter 6) of <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25937017/chapters/63043051">The Lights in the Shadow</a>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FE3H Dragon Age AU [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2215689</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>For the Sake of Another</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Several people wondered what Hubert's dream was like after I'd posted the latest TLITS chapter, and speculated (mostly entirely correctly) on what was going through Hubert's mind at the time, and somehow I ended up in a fugue state and wrote the accompanying Hubert POV in less than 48 hours. Major kudos to unrivaled for doing such a quick beta for me so I could get this out of my system. Truly, it possessed me. Just like the demons tried to do to Hubert. Typical.</p>
<p>If you haven't read up to the aforementioned fic chapter, you're probably gonna miss out on a bunch of context, but hey, don't let me ruin your fun.</p>
<p>Content warnings for:<br/>- blood spurting from wounds from use of blood magic<br/>- unnamed character deaths from above-mentioned blood magic<br/>- ie. Ferdinand nearly dies from a blood mage attack and Hubert kills the offenders with blood magic himself<br/>- general panic/desperation trying to save a dying character<br/>- a character vomiting briefly</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first blast misses them both, and Hubert regains his balance in time to see Ferdinand’s entire body seize in place.</p>
<p>A strangled cry pierces Hubert’s ears and claims his throat in a vice grip as the mages’ shouts and chants soar, a discordant crescendo of dread that seeps deep into his very marrow.</p>
<p>But there’s no time to watch Ferdinand’s bulging, terrified eyes, no time to stand idly by. One of the blood mages attempts to Immolate him, so Hubert has no choice but to lunge sideways to evade the spell. He glances around wildly, trying to gauge their numbers. Five, by the looks of it. One is focused on Ferdinand, palm pointing in his direction, fingers clenching in more and more as if meeting resistance somehow, and by the way Ferdinand’s body spasms, as if in a bid to close in on Ferdinand’s heart.</p>
<p>Hubert’s pulse thunders in his ears like the harshest winter storms, and he launches an Affliction Hex at the mage, only for it to be deflected by one of the others. He sends two more spells hurtling the mage’s way, but the other four converge to defend the first before advancing on Hubert and unleashing a brutal offense of their own.</p>
<p>He conjures a Barrier to protect himself from the ruthless onslaught of elemental assaults, and ostensibly to buy himself time to prepare his own counterattack. He moves, darting from one side to another to keep his steps unpredictable as he frantically searches for a way to subdue them all at once. Elemental powers have never been his forte, and they are clearly adept at facing Hexes. Nearby, a gurgling sound escapes Ferdinand.</p>
<p>A Lightning Bolt breaches the Barrier, slicing Hubert’s sleeve. He stumbles as the cut stings, but that’s fine—he’s got an easy source of blood now, which means he can—</p>
<p>Two of the mages bellow some incomprehensible incantation in a foreign language, and then his veins are on fire as his body locks itself rigid.</p>
<p><em>No</em>, Hubert thinks as his body burns and suffocates from the inside. <em>Not like this</em>. Every muscle and joint defying him, he clamps his jaw, gnaws on his lower lip as hard as he possibly can.</p>
<p>It’s not enough. He can’t break through, can’t even control his own blood, let alone another’s.</p>
<p>The mage after Ferdinand closes his hand in a fist; a spray of blood bursts from Ferdinand’s chest and he crumples to the ground like a dead weight.</p>
<p>Hubert’s vision goes white.</p>
<p>Searing pain blazes through him, from his gut to his ribcage to his throat to his lip, and there—he tastes the familiar metallic tang of blood.</p>
<p>His.</p>
<p>Flowing free.</p>
<p>And as for the ones who tried to contain him—for the ones who’ve harmed Ferdinand—Hubert will make them pay.</p>
<p>There’s something different at the power he harnesses in his blood now. It’s stronger, somehow, coursing through him and from him, as he channels it into something dominating and vast.</p>
<p>Hubert has always utilized blood magic with the intention to hurt. And oh, these mages will hurt. He will do to them what he first did to his father, all those years ago, what he’s done since to Templars and bandits alike. What he’s done to those that infuse his veins with boundless hatred.</p>
<p>Now, there is another level to it. It is revenge, but it is not selfish. Through even his most untenable aspirations, he never could have fathomed what it would be like to fight for someone else.</p>
<p>It fills him with vicious purpose, building and building upon itself, pushing back against the blood mages’ assaults through sheer willpower, for these attackers have nothing compared to him. And as they struggle, as Hubert feels their puny hearts compressing under his intent and drinks in the dying gasps that feed the thrashing, roaring creature beneath his ribcage, in his ears—</p>
<p>“Choke,” Hubert growls, “on <em>this</em>.”</p>
<p>There is a horrible squelching noise, and all five bodies drop simultaneously to the ground, blood pooling beneath their corpses and into the grass and dirt.</p>
<p>Hubert falls to his knees, retching and heaving. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d been sweating, how much of his vision he’d lost. He sucks a breath, then another, lifts a leg and falters.</p>
<p>“Ferd—”</p>
<p>He crawls on elbows and knees to Ferdinand’s body, motionless and twisted just a few paces away, yet he can’t seem to close the distance fast enough.</p>
<p>“Ferdinand,” he wheezes, but no answer comes.</p>
<p>He finally reaches him and rotates him onto his stomach, and a grating stone plummets in his stomach when he sees the extent of the damage.</p>
<p>There is a gaping maw in Ferdinand’s chest, and blood is everywhere.</p>
<p>No. No, no, no, no, no.</p>
<p>Hubert touches his palm to Ferdinand’s cheek and nearly recoils when he finds it cold. Trails downwards to where a pulse should be, and it’s…</p>
<p>He flattens both hands over the hole in Ferdinand’s chest and funnels all the magic he has left into a Heal. The light that emanates from the spell is enough to blind him, but it’s of little consequence now. It fades when he is done, and still Ferdinand bleeds.</p>
<p>“Ferdinand,” he tries again, and still he is met with nothing.</p>
<p>Hubert blinks spots out of his eyes, but they are relentless. He sways on the spot and catches himself just in time to prevent himself from toppling over.</p>
<p>He can’t stop here. There must be more left in him.</p>
<p>He squeezes his eyes shut, exhales harshly, and casts another Heal.</p>
<p>“Ferdinand,” he grits out, hoping for something, anything, but it’s useless. Ferdinand does not stir.</p>
<p>This time his magic fizzes out. Hubert practically whines through his teeth, biting down the howl of frustration, of hopelessness, because this <em>cannot</em> be how this ends, there must be more he can give even as his consciousness threatens to dissipate at any instant—</p>
<p>“Wake up,” he commands, every muscle constricting as he pumps a momentary flash of healing into Ferdinand once more. “Don’t you dare die on me here.”</p>
<p>The spell evaporates along with his waning ability, and Ferdinand’s eyes snap open.</p>
<p>Hubert flops onto his rear, his eyes prickling as Ferdinand takes a skeletal breath. Then Ferdinand rolls over and pukes everywhere.</p>
<p>Hubert winces at the sight, at Ferdinand trembling madly, barely able to prop himself up. He tears the rest of his sleeve where it had already been frayed by that Lightning Bolt and uses it to help wipe around Ferdinand’s mouth. He tries to maneuver Ferdinand away from the puddle of blood and vomit on the ground, but he’s too unsteady to fully manage it, and Ferdinand falls face first next to it, his eyes closing once more.</p>
<p>“Ferdinand,” Hubert cries urgently, taking him by the shoulders and turning him over to find blood still leaking from the wound. He scrounges up another store of energy he didn’t know he had left and casts Heal again. This time, when he calls Ferdinand’s name, it is a plea, it is a prayer, it is the antithesis to all Hubert is, yet it is all that he has.</p>
<p>This time, the wound closes. This time, Ferdinand’s eyelids flutter open. “Hubert?” he whispers hoarsely.</p>
<p>Hubert’s magic stutters and his vision blurs as relief staggers through him, but he keeps the spell active, because there could still be internal damage. “Fucking imbecile,” he pants. “Andraste’s hairy armpits, you’re a fucking imbecile.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand opens his mouth. “I—” he begins, but Hubert finds he cannot endure excuses.</p>
<p>“Letting them sneak up on you with blood magic like that. You’re supposed to be able to defend against it!”</p>
<p>It’s nonsense. Even the most powerful of Templars can be killed with blood magic. But it is an outcome that is unacceptable for Ferdinand.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Ferdinand mumbles, and Hubert cannot curb his angered ranting even if he wanted to.</p>
<p>“I thought you told me you’ve dealt with blood mages before.” By way of punctuation, he floods more magic into the wound, until there’s nothing left and then some. The world tilts dangerously.</p>
<p>“You can stop for now.” Ferdinand’s voice is faraway. “You’ve overexerted yourself.”</p>
<p>Hubert fixes him with the most menacing glare he can muster, and his fury returns in a sudden jolt of clarity. “I made sure they paid the price for what they did,” he snarls. “And if they’d actually killed you, I would have made whatever demonic pact necessary to ensure they continued to suffer for all eternity.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand slumps against him, eyelids drooping, yet the most contented smile gracing his features. “You were worried about me,” he murmurs, and Hubert cannot believe this man.</p>
<p>“Don’t you dare pass out on me now,” he snaps. “We can’t stay here.”</p>
<p>Now that it seems Ferdinand’s life is no longer in immediate peril, the next priority is to get somewhere safe. They can’t risk being found amidst bodies, evidence of death via blood magic lingering all around. If this ambush didn’t kill them, that potential aftermath certainly will.</p>
<p>“S’fine,” Ferdinand slurs, his body so very warm against Hubert’s.</p>
<p>Hubert grinds his teeth together, hard. “It is not,” he says firmly. “Get up, <em>now</em>.”</p>
<p>But Ferdinand is too injured and woozy to obey, and Hubert can scarcely see straight. Still, he forges on, dragging Ferdinand to his feet, grateful that he’s malleable enough for this. Nearly all of his weight sags against Hubert’s side, and Hubert can barely support him, let alone himself, but they have to get away.</p>
<p>Hubert’s knees buckle and he growls as if that could force his body into obedience, as if it could clear his vision. He just needs to hold out a little longer. Just needs to get them somewhere safer.</p>
<p>One foot in front of the other. Left, then right. Left, then right. Left, then right.</p>
<p>He can’t see. There’s green, and shade, and weight against him, and then there’s nothing.</p>
<p>Left, then right. Left…</p>
<p>~o~</p>
<p>
  <em>Hubert is no stranger to demons preying upon him in his sleep. A mage’s connection to the Fade is stronger in unconsciousness, and weakness begets opportunity. Drained of everything he has, it is only fitting that Sloth comes to him first.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Hubert opens his eyes to a drifting dreamscape. It is dark, but the peaceful, comfortable kind. The temperature is mild, not even a smidge too hot or too cold. He sighs, and his body empties of all residual tension.</em>
</p>
<p><strong>It would be so nice to lay here forever,</strong> <em>he thinks. But that thought is oddly detached, as if coming from outside of him, not inside. It reverberates wrongly around him.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>No, that is not it. He needs to wake up and make sure Ferdinand is all right.</em>
</p>
<p><strong>That’s right,</strong> <em>Rage tells him approvingly.</em> <strong>Those who have harmed him cannot be allowed to draw breath one moment longer. They must be punished for what they’ve wrought. We will avenge him, and we will make them hurt. Let this fuel your resolve.</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>But that’s not right either. Hubert already killed them. He made sure of it.</em>
</p>
<p><strong>You killed them all on your own,</strong> <em>Pride agrees next.</em> <strong>With your own power, and no one else’s. You do not need anyone else. You will not be restrained by weaklings following in your shadow. You can do all of this alone.</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>All of this is true. And yet. What is possible is not necessarily the objective. Hubert set out with Ferdinand, and with Ferdinand he will stay.</em>
</p>
<p><em>Desire says,</em> <strong>With him, or <em>with</em> him?</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>The world shifts, then Hubert is standing in his old room at Tantervale Circle, windowless and cramped. His back is against the door as he gazes at his bed across the room, but then time Ferdinand is in front of him, crowding into Hubert’s space.</em>
</p>
<p><strong>You could be with me,</strong> <em>Ferdinand says, though it is not Ferdinand.</em> <strong>You could have me, you know.</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>Could I? Hubert wonders, as not-Ferdinand approaches until their chests brush against each other. Warm. </em>
</p>
<p><strong>You want me so badly,</strong> <em>Ferdinand coos. </em><strong>Don’t you?</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>A thigh presses into Hubert’s crotch and he arches, gasps and rolls his hips into it as pleasure shoots through him. When Ferdinand raises his hands, Hubert surges against him, snatches his wrists and pins Ferdinand to the bed beneath them with an animal groan.</em>
</p>
<p><strong>Yes,</strong> <em>urges Ferdinand.</em> <strong>Take me. I’ve been waiting for you.</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>Hubert moans as his head spins, the revelation dizzying. He leans in close enough to share breath, to bear down and claim what’s his—and then he stops short.</em>
</p>
<p>“This isn’t the real Ferdinand,”<em> he says, the words leaden in his mouth. </em>“This—whatever this is—I don’t want it.”</p>
<p>
  <em>The floor opens up beneath Ferdinand and he falls backwards into a pit of darkness. He stares at Hubert in alarm, mouth parted and arm outstretched, and Hubert grasps for him instinctively, but the blackness swallows Ferdinand whole.</em>
</p>
<p><strong>The real Ferdinand is dying,</strong> <em>Despair intones mournfully.</em> <strong>You weren’t enough to save him.</strong></p>
<p>
  <em>That can’t be. Hubert healed him. He healed him with everything he had. If that wasn’t enough—if Hubert couldn’t be enough…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>You only know basic healing. What a fool you were to think that could be enough.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>It has to be enough, Hubert thinks desperately. Ferdinand woke up, didn’t he? They’d spoken. The outer wound was closed.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>But what do you know of the inner wounds? He collapsed again, after all. You cannot save him. To think you thought for even a moment that you could have him. You were only deluding yourself.</strong>
</p>
<p><em>He will wake, Hubert insists. His throat is raw and parched, but somehow he forces the words into existence: </em>“I know he will wake. I will wake, and he will wake, and we will both be alive and free.”</p>
<p><strong>He is MINE,</strong> <em>Pride snarls.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Suddenly, Hubert understands.</em>
</p>
<p>“You’ll never have him,”<em> he vows. </em>“You will never get to him through me.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Rage shrieks, rattling down to Hubert’s core, the anguish of being thwarted penetrating his very bones as if he is the one who has lost—and that’s how he knows he’s won. And as Rage retreats, swearing its bloody revenge, Hubert simply laughs.</em>
</p>
<p>~o~</p>
<p>Hubert comes to himself again, this time with a solid line of heat down his back, across his chest. Brightness shines against his eyelids, and he is reminded of the sun. Slowly, he opens his eyes to a canopy of green, a haven beneath trees, sunlight filtering through the cracks in the shade. Then a shock of red swims into view, upside down, but unmistakably Ferdinand.</p>
<p>Awake. Alive. Embracing him.</p>
<p>“You’re awake,” Ferdinand rasps.</p>
<p>“Am I?” Hubert asks softly. It feels like something out of a dream.</p>
<p>He remembers, very clearly, what his dreams have been made of.</p>
<p>“Or is this merely another demon’s poor attempt to trick me? Which one is it this time—sloth, or desire?”</p>
<p>“No!” Ferdinand cries out, and his arms tighten around Hubert enough to crush his ribcage, fingers digging in hard enough to leave bruises. “I swear it, I am no demon, Hubert.” Something in those amber eyes glints with recognition. “Unless you are not really Hubert, and <em>this</em> is the demon’s ruse?”</p>
<p>Hubert opens his mouth to respond, but no words come as the weight of Ferdinand’s sinks in.</p>
<p>Only Ferdinand would ever say such things.</p>
<p>This is real.</p>
<p>All hesitation vanishes, and Hubert is so light, Ferdinand is so warm around him in a way the demons’ concoctions could never replicate. He closes his eyes and lets himself bask in it.</p>
<p>“A demon would not throw such accusations back at me,” he mumbles. “Well played.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand huffs out a laugh, and his forehead tips to rest against Hubert’s hair. Hubert has never felt so validated in his life.</p>
<p>Something nags at the dark recesses of his mind. “Wait,” he says. “Did you think I was a demon?”</p>
<p>Ferdinand clutches him impossibly closer, yet somehow Hubert has the gall to wish for more. “You were asleep for a long time,” Ferdinand says, muffled in Hubert’s hair. “And you had used up so much energy. I thought…”</p>
<p>His voice breaks, and Hubert can hear the fear laced within, and he can’t have that. Can’t let this shake Ferdinand’s boundless optimism.</p>
<p>“They tried,” Hubert says, quiet and resolute. “But they won’t get me so easily.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand whispers, “Good.”</p>
<p>That Hubert could quell Ferdinand’s doubts, that he could coax this outline of a smile against the crown of his head… The confirmation that his efforts were not in vain, that they could translate into something like this…</p>
<p>Hubert never wants it to end.</p>
<p>He wants—</p>
<p>Too much. When—<em>how</em>—did he let this happen?</p>
<p>“Ferdinand?”</p>
<p>“Yes?”</p>
<p>There are myriad ways to go about this conundrum, and what Hubert says is, “Was it your intention to trap me here?”</p>
<p>And Ferdinand flounders.</p>
<p>“I—<em>oh</em>!”</p>
<p>All at once, the warmth surrounding Hubert disappears, and the cold loss aches in every pore. Gravity swoops in from under him, and he catches himself on his knees, sitting back on his heels. He stares at Ferdinand, relief mingling with incredulity at the fierceness of his reaction.</p>
<p>“I meant no harm or disrespect,” Ferdinand stammers. “I only thought to keep you safe and ensure you would wake, I did not mean to offend—”</p>
<p>“Peace, Ferdinand,” he interjects. That this has already gone overboard is so typically Ferdinand. “It was only a jest.”</p>
<p>“Even so, are jests not stemmed from truths?”</p>
<p>They are. Thankfully, Hubert’s truth seems to have gone over Ferdinand’s head, but even so, the hollow in his guts at Ferdinand’s words is near unbearable.</p>
<p>He says, “I really don’t—”</p>
<p>“In any case,” Ferdinand says loudly, “I promise I will not act so unbecomingly again.”</p>
<p><em>I let you</em>, Hubert thinks. But he can’t let this fester, can’t make himself known to Ferdinand more than he already has. So he spews his usual grumbles about Ferdinand’s theatrics, and Ferdinand flusters, and Hubert resolutely ignores the pretty blush painting his cheeks.</p>
<p>Ferdinand’s lack of interest aside, there are too many reasons why they can’t do this. Hubert knows this all too well. But even so, Ferdinand is here, and he will remain, so long as Hubert does not drive him away with his selfishness.</p>
<p>When all around Hubert is chaos and destruction, Ferdinand is steadfast and true. And Hubert will not be his ruiner.</p>
<p>That is enough.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For fun extra context since we don't get Hubert's POV in the original story: yes, this is the first time Hubert has ever admitted he wants Ferdinand. Of course he hits the panic button.</p>
<p>EDIT: Sins made absolutely amazing <a href="https://twitter.com/Fe3hSins/status/1384971559983583235">art</a> of the demon dream sequence and I am absolutely living for it!!!</p>
<p>
  <a href="https://twitter.com/nuanta_fic">@nuanta_fic</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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